So Many Face Palms Later
by StandInTheRain17
Summary: The reading of the lightning thief. Yes its been done before, but I am going to do all the books. Of course I own absolutely nothing! Gods and Demi-gods read together. Percabeth (duh)
1. We Are

**It's been done before, but I really love these books! I've noticed that people don't do all the books so I want to.**

** Disclaimer: I DO NOT own anything written here! Nothing!**

* * *

12 powerful beings all sat in a magnificent room. Not really doing what you would imagine all powerful beings would do. They were all arguing. Like 3 year olds.

"Mother always liked you best!"

"Of course, she does! Have you seen me?"

"Stop making the room smell like grapes! It's gross!"

"Hey where's my wallet? Hermes!"

BOOM! There was big flash in the middle of the throne room.

"I can't wait to see Pe-." A girl said, but stopped abruptly. The 12 gods all looked at the humans in the middle of their throne room.

"What are you humans doing here? Speak quickly before I vaporize you." Said a certain god of the sky.

"I don't know." Said the same girl as before. Then a note floated from the ceiling. The girl from before took the note and began to read it, with a lot of struggle since it was in English cursive. **(A/N I like being evil.)**

**Dear Demi-gods and gods. **

**We have brought you here so that you can read about your adventures. It is mostly to show the gods what the consequences of their actions are. But also to show a few stuck up Demi-gods that things are not always as they seem. No harm is to come to the Demi-gods, be civil; also Demi-gods there are a few rules. You will introduce yourself, only your first name. Do not say who your parent is. More Demi-gods will be sent in through the books. Oh, and the main thing, you will not say if you are dead or not. Do not give anything away that will be explained in the books. Also all these things have happened, and cannot and will not be changed, we just want to show the gods that they might want to clean up their act. **

**With best wishes,**

** The Fates.**

"Well I guess we should introduce ourselves." Said the blonde girl.

"I am Annabeth."

"I am Nico."

"I am Thalia."

"I am Jason." He looked to the girl who just introduced herself.

"I am Leo."

"I am Piper."

"We are Travis and Conner."

"I am Clarisse."

"I am Silena."

"I am Charles."

"I am Katie."

"I am Will."

"I am Grover."

"I am Hazel."

"I am Frank."

"That's everybody. I supposed we should start reading?" Annabeth said.

"Now hold on. I don't like getting bossed around by a bunch of children." Zeus said.

"Father, this is the Fates wishes, we can't go against that." Athena said.

"Fine." The sky god grumbled.

"Who will read first?" Athena asked. Annabeth raised her hand.

** I vaporize my pre algebra teacher.**

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** That's it for the first chapter. Expect chapters at least once a week. Let me know who else you would like to be included in this reading. **


	2. See, Math is Evil!

**Enjoy, and remember to leave a review, tell me what you do and don't like about the actual book. And what you like about this story, and what you would like it to include. Or just say hi. Oh and this is set as they were about to see Percy! So Jason hasn't met him and all that.**

**I do NOT NOT NOT own this book! Obviously….**

* * *

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE****MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

"What kind of chapter name is that?" Leo asked.

"The kind Percy would come up with."Thalia said. Nico nodded his head.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

All the Demi-gods nodded their head in agreement.

If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:

"Ahhhh!" Nico and Thalia screamed at the same time, making the Demi-gods jump.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Percy is giving advice! The worlds ending!" Nico said as he ran around the Demi-gods with his hands on his head. Thalia nonchalantly stuck her leg out and tripped Nico.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes and kept reading.

**close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, **

"Wow…That is actually not bad…"Nico said.

"He must be on drugs." Thalia said.

"That's the only explanation." Annabeth said.

All the Demi-gods who knew Percy nodded their head.

**and try to lead a normal life. **

"Normal life." The Demi-gods scoffed.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **

The gods flinched at that. They knew being half- bloods was hard but was it really that bad? It couldn't be right?

If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great.

"Fiction?" Hermes wondered out loud.

"It means that is not real you idiot." Athena said.

"I know what it means!" Hermes yelled.

**Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"Mortals are so dense." Athena muttered.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. **

"Anyone feel a stirring?" Travis asked as he raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Conner smirked in a very creepy manner.

**You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you. **

"Dun Dun DUNnnnn!" Leo said, he was met with questioning looks.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

"You didn't warn us." Nico said, his head somehow met the floor. Who knows how that happened.

My name is Percy Jackson.

Annabeths heart ached saying that name.

_Hmm, I feel a strong love connection… I wonder who it is. _Aphrodite wondered.

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate** New York.

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" Yelled all the camp half blood kids. The gods just looked at them like they had lost their minds, which they probably had.

Yeah. You could say that.

"He even admits it." Travis snickered.

I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it,

"Yeah his life kind of sucks." Nico said.

"Why?" Hermes asked.

"The book will probably explain." Nico said.

**but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

Annabeth and Athena had stars in their eyes.

"That sounds amazing."They both said at the same time.

Athena looked at Annabeth and wondered…_Hmm Annabeth why does that sound familiar_…

"That sounds like torture." Hermes and Apollo said.

**I know-it sounds like torture. **

"How could he say that?! He's getting a kick to the head when I see him!" Annabeth yelled, making all the Demi-gods back away from her.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.

"Is that Chiron?" Katie asked Annabeth, who just shrugged.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class.**

_Maybe that is Chiron…_ Annabeth thought.

**He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. **

Annabeth clenched her fist together. _He fell asleep in class? Perseus! _

"Annabeth, calm down, your killer intent is scaring everybody." Nico said.**_  
_****  
I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. **

"Is there ever a time that Percy isn't in trouble?" Charles asked, mostly to himself, but everyone heard.

"There was that…No A Pegasus landed on the car…What about… No he ran into a hellhound cross-dresser, that was weird, what about that time you guys danced no you fell, what about when he got ice cream! No it rained magic gum balls…I got it!" Nico said.

"Wait… no he set that place on fire. Never mind. He is always in trouble." Nico said, giving up.

"I agree." Annabeth said.

**Boy, was I wrong. **

"Is he ever right?" Katie said.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon.

"Of course it was something super dangerous." Annabeth mumbled.

**I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. **

"It says he wasn't aiming at the school bus, meaning he was aiming at something. I wonder what that was." Conner said. Travis was nodding alongside his brother.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind- the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

"I wonder if that has to do with his parent." Annabeth said low so only Nico and Thalia could hear, as they were sitting on either side of her. They nodded, _that could be,_ they both thought.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea. **

"Noooo, please continue! This kid is a riot!" Apollo said

"He has to be my son!" Hermes said between fits of laughter.

**This trip, I was determined to be good. **

"Let's see how long that lasts." All the Demi-gods who knew him said at the same time. This of course made them all fall out of their seats laughing. After they composed themselves Annabeth continued reading.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich. **

"That was a terrible time." Grover said, making everybody jump, because they forgot he was there.

Grover was an easy target.

"Thanks Percy." Grover muttered.

**He was scrawny. **

A tick mark appeared on Grovers head.

**He cried when he got frustrated. **

The tick mark got bigger.

**He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin.**

It was still growing.

**On top of all that, he was crippled.**

There was a loud explosion and Grover was gone.

"Will he be okay?" Hermes asked. The Demi-gods shrugged.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs.**

"Yeah it's called Goatitis." Travis said. Grover came back in and slapped him.

**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

"Way to blow your cover Grover." Will said, shaking his head.

"Sorry! They are just so magnificent." Grover said, his eyes glazed over.

"Write this down, we need to help Grover with his enchilada addiction." Travis whispered to Conner. Conner took out the notebook labeled 'helping people with strange addictions.'"

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, **

"Ewwwwwwww." All the girls squeaked, of course Aphrodite was the loudest.

**and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation.**

"Now I wonder how our sweet Percy got on probation." Travis said sarcastically.

**The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"WHAT!?" Everyone yelled, the loudest was surprisingly Poseidon. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

"What? I can't be concerened for a poor boy whom I have no connection with, I mean I have never met him, I wonder whose son he is, not mine, nope, I wo-" Poseidon was rambling, and before he could give anything away Annabeth continued reading.

**by in-school suspension**

There was a sigh of relief from everyone in the throne room. _Thank me, _Poseidon thought.

**if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"NOOOO we need more entertainment**!" **Hermes and Apollo yelled.

"I'm going to kill her." I mumbled.

"Do It! Please this book lacks fights!" I bet nobody knows who said that.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter. "**

"Hey, I like peanut as much as the next god, but I don't enjoy it in my hair." Hephaestus said, surprising everybody.

"What I can't like peanut butter?" He asked

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it. " I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Grover! Why would you do such a terrible thing?" Ares yelled.

"Sorry?" Grover said, not quite sure what he was apologizing for.

"I hate to agree with Ares, I really do, but it seems to me that this Natasha should get punched by Parsley." Dionysus said. Everyone looked at him. _Parsley? _They didn't think that he would even be listening to the story.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

"He is blamed for a lot of things he doesn't do." Annabeth muttered sadly.

Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.

"Wait what is he getting himself into? Is it bad? I bet it's bad." Leo said.

Annabeth was leaning forward in anticipation. Percy had briefly talked about his adventures that she wasn't on; she was excited to see what he did when she was not around.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.

"Much, much, much longer than that boy." Athena said.  
**  
He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top,**

Annabeth couldn't hold back the shiver that went through her body. She met a Sphinx, that was not pleasant.

**and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a steel, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

"Percy is actually listening to things that can teach him?" Nico said his voice sounded seriously confused.

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye. **

_Mrs. Dodd's, why does that sound familiar? _Hades wondered_. I hope that's not who I think it is._

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. **

"I wish my teachers rode into my locker." Leo said, he sounded sad.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown. **

"A mental breakdown? Yes I am sure that's what happened." Annabeth said.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. **

"That's Nico." Thalia said in a whisper so that only Nico and Annabeth could hear. Nico just glared at her. He did not want to poke the bear and get his hands ripped off. She is just too scary.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey, " real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month. **

"That sounds terrible." Travis said, he shed fake tears for his friend.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real seri-ous, and said, "You're absolutely right. "**

All the Demi-gods face palmed.

"Way to go Grover, way to blow your cover!" Thalia said.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

"Yes, please shut up." Artemis said, rubbing her temples.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did." Katie said.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. **

"Really? Now you stop? Terrible timing." Apollo said.

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir. "**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

"5 drachmas says Percy doesn't know." Nico said to Annabeth.

"You're on."

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized i**t.

"Ha-ha! Pay up Nico" Annabeth said, holding her hand out. Nico gritted his teeth and handed her to drachmas.

**"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

All the elder gods groaned and shook violently, trying to get the imagine out of their head.

"Why must it be that sculpture? Why always _that_ sculpture?" Zeus said. The elder gods agreed.

**"Yes, " Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ... "**

**"Well... " I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"GOD? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS BOY? I SHOULD FIND HIM AND ZAP HIM WITH LIGHNING!" Zeus said, he was rampaging around the throne room with little lightning bolts coming out of his head.

"Zeus, the boy is new to this, I am sure his teacher sets him straight." Poseidon said.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan, " I corrected myself.**

"See?"

**"And ... He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. **

"See? It has been proven! Mother loved me most!" Zeus said, fist pumping in the air. The other gods just mumbled.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Eeeewwww, is right, children."

**"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans, " I continued, "and the gods won. "**

"He…He just summed up…what can be seen as the worst battle we had ever been through…In a couple sentences." The gods were shocked.

"That's Percy for you." Nico smiled.

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'**"

"Isn't that question 52 on the Demi-god exam?" Apollo asked.

"We don't have a Demi-God exam you idiot." Artemis said rolling her eyes.

"Note to self, invent a Demi-god exam." Hermes said.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson, " Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted." Both Apollo and Hermes said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

Apollo and Hermes can be heard hitting their heads on the walls, saying why do we think like a goat.

**"Shut up, " Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.

"Come on that has to be Chiron." Piper said. She looked over to Jason for back up but he just had a deep scowl set in his face.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see. " Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father,**

"Quick question, how big is Kronos? Cause if you guys were growing inside him, did he like grow or were u guys like really small, or was it magic, maybe some sort of device th-"Leo said, but was cut off by a firm fist hitting the top of his head.

**sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch.**

"How was anything he just said happy?" Ares said.

"That is defiantly Chiron; nobody could change subjects like that." Hermes said.

**Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

_I'm getting a really bad feeling. _Hades thought to himself_._

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doo-fuses. **

"Guys are doo-fuses." Artemis said.

"Except me right sis?" Apollo said with puppy dog eyes.

"No." Artemis said in s stone cold voice.

"AND DON"T CALL ME SIS!" She yelled.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson. "**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"He has boy, He has." Athena said.

"You must learn the answer to my question, " Mr. Brunner told me.

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it. "**

"How is supposed to know that? He doesn't even know who he is." Leo said to himself.

**"Oh. "**

**"What you learn from me, " he said, "is vitally impor-tant. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. "**

"Well Percy always gives his best." Grover spoke loudly so that everyone could hear.

I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.

"It's only because he care Percy." Annabeth said softly. This left Athena something to think about.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk,**

"That sounds amazing." Leo said, all the other Demi-gods agreed.

**to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. **

"I don't think I can even do that." Annabeth said.

"Did you just admit to not being able to do something?" Nico gasped.

"No your ears must be broken, ask Grover for some vitamins." Annabeth said.

"You take Vitamins for your ears?" Nico asked. Grover took out the vitamins he had in his pocket. So convenient.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. **

"This kid is like me!" Leo said, fake tears were streaming down his face.

"We're amazing!" Leo yelled.

**No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. **

"You are better." Annabeth said. Athena looked at her questioningly.

**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. **

"Is that even possible?" Clarisse wondered.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the steel, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was." Grover said.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

Annabeth sighed; she missed the easy going way of the world.

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"What are you two fighting over this time? Who stole the last Doritos bag?" Artemis said. The Last Doritos Bag of '05 was terrible. I still have nightmares from that. Artemis shivered.

"Don't even bring that up! It still hasn't been solved."Zeus said, glaring at the other Olympians.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricain blowing in. **

"You guys are really angry. This reminds me of the Last Girl Scout Cookies of '06" Hera said.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

"Poor bird." Artemis said.

"Poor bird? You're a hunter you probably kill it." Apollo said.

"I love lunchables." Nico said, everyone looked at him weird.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. **

"Hermes, is she yours?" Apollo asked.

"No defiantly not. Did you hear what the book said? Someone caught her, My kids would never be caught." Hermes explained.

Travis and Conner silently high-fived behind their backs.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. **

All the Demi-gods sighed, they had all felt like that.

"Detention?" Grover asked.

**"Nah, " I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius. "**

"That's the understatement of the year." Thalia said. Everybody laughed, even the gods.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better,**

"That's nice of you Grover." Piper said.

**he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Piped face palmed.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas.**

"Mama's boy." Ares said

**I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, **

"Mam-." Ares started to say but stopped from the killer intent coming from Hera.

**even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. **

"That has to be a new recorded." Leo said, even he wasn't that bad.

**I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"Hephaestus?" Hermes asked innocently.

"Already on it." Was the reply that came.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

A vein popped in Annabeth, Nico and Thalia's head at the same time.

**"Oops. " She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray- painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"That is disgusting.**" **Aphrodite said.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**

"Temper? Percy having a Temper? Never." Nico said sarcastically.

**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears. **

_A wave?_ The gods wondered.

**I** **don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

**"-the water-"**

**"-like it grabbed her-"**

_Uh-oh_, Poseidon thought. He closed his eyes.**  
**"POSEIDON? YOU BROKE THE OATH?!" Zeus said the whole building rumbled. Both gods were in each other's faces, speaking in ancient Greek. It was not until ten minutes later did the Greek Demi-gods stood up.

"STOP IT!" Nico, Thalia and Annabeth screamed. The gods were so shocked they stopped arguing and looked at the three Demi-gods.

"YOU DARE, SPEAK T—." Zeus started to say but was cut off.

"Yes we dare speak to you! If I do recall you broke the 2 times Lord Zeus." Annabeth said. The lord part was spoken in a pure out raged voice.

"So sit down and stop being so hypocritical!" Annabeth sat down with a grunt, tears were filling her eyes.

"How dare you make her cry!" Thalia said. The air around her was getting thick and lightning was bursting outside.

"Wait Thalia, wait my Thalia?" Zeus said.

"Yes, _father, _your daughter, that was also born while you were under an oath. Another one of your children are in this room as well! So sit down!" Thalia yelled. She told Annabeth to continue reading, which she did.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. **

"Always in trouble." Leo said, trying to release the tension

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc. , etc. , Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a tri-umphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

"Monster?" Piper asked. Annabeth said nothing.

**"I know, " I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks. "**

"No! Never guess your punishment! That's rule number 56!" Hermes said.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Of course not." Will said.

**Come with me, " Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her. "**

"That was nice of you young Satyr." Hera said.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood, " she said.**

**"But-"**

"Butte are for di-" Hermes started to say but was cut off

"Hermes! There are children here!" Hera yelled at him.

"I was going to say Diapers! Geez!" Hermes mumbled.

**"You-will-stay-here. "**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man, " I told him. "Thanks for trying. "**

**"Honey, " Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now. "**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. **

Nico shivered. The gods looked at him strangely.

"You never want to be on the receiving side of that glare." Nico explained. The rest of camp half blood nodded their head so hard; the gods thought it would fall off.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"If nothing else warned you this should send warning signs." Hera said.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

Sureeeeeeeeee, said everyone in the throne room.

**I wasn't so sure. **

_Trust your instincts Percy_! Poseidon thought to himself, was this the reason Percy wasn't here? Did he die?

**I went after Mrs. Dodd's.**

"That moron." Silena said.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on,**

"I did." Grover said.

**but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. **

"Yes Chiron look up from your novel! You're supposed to protect him." Poseidon yelled.

"Uncle P… It's a book." Apollo said.

_What makes him so special that his parent actually cares?_ Jason asked himself.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Yes, yes please just be buying her a shirt." Poseidon pleaded.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

_Of course not._ Poseidon huffed.

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"No witnesses." Hades said. _Why do I get the feeling I am going to be punched?_ Hades wondered but shrugged it off.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Growling?" Poseidon squeaked.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

"She probably did." Will said.

**You've been giving us problems, honey," she said. **

"Who is we?" Leo asked. He was ignored.

I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am. "

"Percy is being polite?" Nico asked.

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

"Get away with what?" Athena asked. _The lightning thief…Hmm. _She wondered.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

"Does he always have this kind of bad luck?" Poseidon asked.

"Yes." The Demi-gods from camp half blood coursed  
**  
She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. **

"No, she's just a sweet little under cover puppy dog." Nico said, which earned him questioning glances to be shot his way.

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

Thunder shook the building.

"Geez I really am mad. What did you guys do?" Zeus asked.

"Why do you assume it's us?" Hades asked.

"Yeah maybe you're on your period zeusie." Poseidon said in a girly voice.

It took a while for the laughter to calm down.

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson, " **

"Some of us aren't but yes most are." Athena said, glaring at the other Olympians.

**Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain. "**

"Liar Liar pants on fire!" Conner said.

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

The throne room irrupted with laughter.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade.**

"Seaweed brain." Annabeth said

**Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. **

"That is a great book! No wonder he is your kid Poseidon." Athena said.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't... "**

**"Your time is up, " she hissed.**

**"**No no no no no no." Poseidon kept saying No.

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON?! YOUD BETTER HOPE HE IS ALRIGHT OR I WILL PERSONALLY THROW YOU IN TARTUARS!" Poseidon yelled to Hades. He got up from his Throne and punched Hades in the face. He then went back to his throne, biting his lip, telling Annabeth to continue.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"How in the world would things get even weirder?" Leo asked.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. **

"Ah thank me, that's riptide." Poseidon said in relief.

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"He used a real sword in class? Is he crazy?" Annabeth asked no one.

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Such a wimp." Ares said, He got a murderous glare from Poseidon.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.

"I didn't know that swinging a sword came naturally…" Nico said, "Though if it is Percy anything is possible."

"There is no way that the kid beat a fury on his own with no training." Ares said.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

"You were saying?" Thalia said with a smug grin on her face.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. **

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"After all that he is letting the mist affect him." Artemis said shaking her head.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or some-thing.**

"Where does he come up with these things?" Hermes said laughing so hard tears were in his eyes.

Had I imagined the whole thing?

"I wish." Poseidon sighed.

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt. "**

"Who?" Poseidon asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

****"Like father like son." Apollo. Poseidon blushed.

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.  
She just rolled her eyes and turned away. **

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

He said, "Who?"

"What is happening?" Artemis asked.

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man, " I told him. "This is serious. "**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, readiing his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson. "**

"Yeah Percy, when a monster attacks you please bring your own writing utensils, it's very inconvenient to other people." Nico said pushing up his glasses. Wait glasses?

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir, " I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher. "**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are**** you feeling all right?"**

"What is Chiron doing?" Annabeth asked."That's the first chapter. Who wants to read next?" Annabeth asked holding the book up.

"I will! Me me! I want to!" Leo said raising his hand.

"Okay." Annabeth said handing the book to Nico. Leo pouted.

"Three Old Ladies Knit Socks of Death." Nico began.

* * *

**YAY! All done please review, follow or favorite! I love reviews. I know something's in the book are not spelled correctly or weird I am doing everything I can to avoid copy right issues. Let me know how you like this!**


	3. Is this Why You are Gone?

**HI guys! Follow, fav, or review or all three if you really like it! Thank you to those who have Favorited this and followed! In response to the reviews..**

**Guest: I was planning on it:)**

**Fairy Tail Fanatic 4EVER**** : The funny thing is that I didn't even plan that, he was just the first person who came to mind...Haha**

**Thanks for the support guys! You make me want to write faster!**

**I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!**

"Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death." Nico read.

"What kind of name is that? How can socks be deadly?" Travis asked.

"Have you ever smelt your socks?" Katie questioned.

"No…" Travis said as he took his shoe off and brought his foot to his face to smell his sock.

"It doesn-" Travis started to say but passed out from the stench.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience,**

"I think you have to be if you want to survive." Annabeth said.

**but usually they were over quickly.**

"I can't say that's completely true…" Will said.

**This twenty- four/seven hallucina/tion was more than I could handle.**

"Hallucination? Really Percy, what kind of hallucination tries to slice you to ribbons?" Thalia asked.

"It's a book." Nico told Thalia.

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.**

"I have a brilliant idea!" Travis laughed to himself, and scribbled words in a note book. He motioned for Nico to continue reading.

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas. **

"That's so weird." Piper said.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho. **

"That is because you are a psycho, you psycho." Thalia stated in a monotone voice.

**It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed. **

"Almost?" Nico asked.

**Almost. **

"I bet you 100 drachma it was Grover's fault." Annabeth said to Thalia and Nico.

"No fair! I bet you 100 drachma it was Grover's fault too!" Thalia said to Annabeth.

"Me too! I bet you 100 drachma that is was Grover's fault too!" Nico said to both Thalia and Annabeth.

"Is there anyone here who thinks that it is not Grover's fault?" Annabeth asked the Demigods and gods. Leo was about to raise his hand when Piper quickly grabbed in and shoved it back down.

"I am so glad that you guys have so much faith in me." Grover said sarcastically.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

Everyone looked at Grover who immediately blushed.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate,**

"Never hesitate! That's rule 75!" Hermes said.

**then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying. **

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. **

"No really? I had no Idea Perce, are you sure it wasn't magic mushrooms?" Nico said to the book.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat. **

The Demi-gods shivered.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood.**

"Still fighting?" Athena asked.

**One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

_What is this weird feeling? This seems like a big deal. _Athena mused to herself.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. **

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

Annabeth and Athena looked at the book in horror.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. **

"That's terrible." Athena said.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.**

Annabeth laughed loudly and Athena just smirked. Everyone looked at them questioningly

**I wasn't even sure what it meant,**

"I means old drunk." Annabeth explained.

**but it sounded good. **

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy. **

"The school didn't deserve him anyway." Annabeth said as she crossed her arms.

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine. **

**I was homesick. **

**I wanted to be with my mom**

"That's a good boy." Hera said.

**in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties. **

"Paul doesn't seem like a gambler." Nico told Annabeth.

"He's not." Was the response that he got, leaving him even more confused.

**And yet... There were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance,**

Poseidon smiled at that.

**the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,**

"Awww." The camp half blood's Demi-gods cooed, which made Grover blush.

**even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. **

Cue more cooing.

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tourna/ment days and his faith that I could do well. **

"That always feels nice when no one else will give it to you." Thalia said looking down. The gods looked at the Demigods with guilt ridden looks on their faces.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I stud/ied for.**

"Aw, he wants to impress Chiron!" Annabeth said, she was happy that Percy was actually studying.

"Wait Chiron's there?!" Leo said his voice very confused.

"Yes, we have already established this geez, keep up Leo!" Piper said as she smacked him on the back of the head.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him. **

"That's your Demi-God instincts coming to light." Athena said nodding to herself.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room.**

"Ahhhhh!" Athena and Annabeth screamed. Their faces contorted in horror and they both passed out.

"Are they going to be okay?" Leo asked.

"Yes, I am sure they will be fine, now on with the book Natalie." Dionysus said waving his hand.

"It's Nico…" Nico sighed.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**

"Been there done that." Thalia said. "It gets very frustrating." The other Demigods nodded their heads in agreement. Annabeth and Athena had sat up and were now taking calming breaths.

**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

Grover and Annabeth snickered into their hands. _He knows now. _They thought to themselves.

"What?" Hephaestus asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Annabeth said, motioning Nico to continue reading.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. **

"I don't have that problem." Jason said smirking.

"Yeah, but you have a terrible time with Greek." Piper said missing the gloating tone.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. **

The other Demigods shivered, and unconsciously itched their bodies.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson. **

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book. **

"Wow Percy is actually going to ask help studying." Grover said in mock shock.

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before.**

"Figures." Nico muttered under his breath.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. **

"He is so sweet! Are you sure he is your?" Aphrodite asked Poseidon.

"Yes I am sure." Poseidon said, he had a feeling that she just insulted him…

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor. **

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... Worried about Percy, sir. "**

"Um, quick question to you Grover." Travis said.

"Yes?" Grover said

"Well, since you are on this big secret assignment." Travis began,

"and you're talking about Percy, and there are mortals around." Conner continued,

"Why is it you left the door open?" Travis finished.

Grover opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't have an excuse.

**I froze. **

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Yeah right!" Annabeth said, a little too loudly, as she meant to just whisper it, so she got weird looks from everyone. Her face was bright red. She could remember a few times that he had eavesdropped on some of their quests. Of course they did that to survive…

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. **

"Fair enough." Piper said

"Yeah, I don't think I could resist." Nico said. The Demi-gods nodded their head in agreement.

**I inched closer. **

**"... Alone this summer, " Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"**

Poseidon's grip on his throne tighter as the incident at the museum was mentioned.

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him, " Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "**

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but he will never mature." Thalia and Nico said at the same time, they laughed so hard the grabbed their sides in pain.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line- "**

"What deadline?" The gods chorused through the throne room.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. "**

"Oh he is still ignorant." Again Thalia and Nico said at the same time. They looked at each other.

"Would you stop saying what I am saying?" They both said at the same time.

**"Sir, he saw her... . "**

"Well, he thinks he thought that he thinks that he saw her." Athena mumbled.

"Um… What?" Leo asked.

**"His imagination, " Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "**

"Well, I didn't think I would ever say this but," Thalia started. "I think your stupidity has saved Percy." Thalia finished.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again."**

"Grover…" Thalia said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It is not your fault, you silly goat-boy." She whispered in his ear.

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. "**

Annabeth laid her hand on Grover's other shoulder, and whispered comforting words to him.

**"You haven't failed, Grover, " Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"**

"Uh-oh."

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. **

"Ah! Rule number 1! Never give away your position!" Hermes yelled.

**Mr. Brunner went silent. **

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

Hermes shook his head in agreement. "Good Good, rule number 50 make a silent retreat."

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. **

"What in the world is Chiron doing in his true form?! And at a mortal school no less!" Zeus said.

"I will have to have a talk with my brother." Zeus muttered.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside. **

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muf-fled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. **

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck. **

"Thanks for that information?" Leo said but kind of phrased it as a question.

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "**

"Okay now I really want to know what happened. I hate not knowing." Athena said as she gritted her teeth in annoyance.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ... "**

"Nope nothing, you heard nothing!" Leo said pointing at the book.

**"Go back to the dorm, " Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "**

"Do you have to take exams every time you go under cover?" Piper asked.

"Sadly, yes." Grover said with a sigh.

**"Don't remind me."**

"That sucks." Leo said.

"Agreed."

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. **

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever. **

"Good, rule number 2 a-"Hermes began but was cut off

"Always remain hidden until you're sure the coast is clear." Travis and Conner said in unison.

Hermes looked at them with a smile.

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. **

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night. **

"Liar."

**"Hey, " he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer. **

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... Tired. "**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. **

"That's not going to work, Peter, Satyrs can read emotions, which tell more than just a mere expression." Dionysus said behind his wine magazine.

"I…I didn't know you were listening Mr. D." Thalia said.

"I am not, girl, I am merely responding to a question in this week's crosswords puzzle." Dionysus said glaring at Thalia.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing. **

"Stop trying to pretend this isn't real Sea Weed brain!" Annabeth yelled at the book.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger. **

"Aren't you always in danger?" Charles asked.

At this Poseidon paled.

"Haha, yeah remember that one time-" Nico started to say but Annabeth slapped the back of his head.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, **

"THREE HOUR EXAM!?" The Demigod boys, minus Jason, screamed then fell out of their chairs.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. **

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem. **

**"Percy, " he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... It's for the best. "**

"He is so gonna take that the wrong way." Annabeth said.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. **

"See?"

**Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. **

"That child needs to be taught the way of being a lady not a immature brat." Artemis said.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "**

**"I mean ... " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "**

"He is really just making this so much worse." Travis said.

"Yeah he should probably just stop talking." Conner said.

**My eyes stung. **

"Such a wimp." Ares said but got a very cold glare from Poseidon.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it.**

"Oh Percy. He is not saying that Seaweed brain." Annabeth said, shaking her head.

**After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out. **

"He really needs to stop taking it this way." Will said.

**"Right, " I said, trembling. **

Ares was going to say something but then thought better of it.

**"No, no, " Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... You're not normal, Percy. That's noth-ing to be-"**

"Oh crap." Conner said face palming.

"This is not going to end well." Travis said also face palming.

**"Thanks, " I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me. **

**"Percy-"**

**But I was already gone. **

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. **

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a fam-ily of nobodies. **

"Excuse me?" Zeus said his eye twitching,

"Do we look like nobodies boy?" Hades asked.

"Brothers he doesn't know. If he did I am sure that he would think differently." Poseidon said, trying to defuse the situation before his sons thoughts get him blown up.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. **

"Well that was nice of them." Athena said.

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a sum-mer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall. **

"Why does he have to work?" Hermes asked.

"Him and his mom don't have money, so when Percy is home he does anything he can to help, his step-father does nothing for them." Annabeth explained.

**"Oh, " one of the guys said. "That's cool. "**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. **

"Never mind what I said about them being nice." Athena muttered.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, **

"Awwww" Aphrodite squealed

**but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city. **

"What a coincidence." annabeth said sarcastically.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing ner-vously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased.**

"It's a little more serious than that." Grover said.

**But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound. **

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. **

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"You probably gave him a heart attack!" Thalia and Nico said. The glare between them deepened.

"He did give me a heart attack." Grover stated, looking over at Nico and Thalia.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

"See?"

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. **

"AHHHHH! That moron! That is rule number 3! Never admit to doing anything wrong!" Hermes, Travis and Connor said at the same time.

"You are my kids aren't you?" Hermes asked.

"Guess the cats out of the bag." Travis and Connor laughed.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... Not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Not much?"

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... "**

Apollo and Hermes cracked up about the demon math teachers.

**"Grover-"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ... "**

"Grover you just admitted there was a Mrs. Dodds…." Annabeth said.

**Grover, you're a really, really bad liar. "**

"You really are." The twins said.

"I know." Grover sighed.

**His ears turned pink. **

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case **

**you need me this summer. **

"Grubby?" Dionysus asked.

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, **

"Why is it in fancy script?" Zeus asked.

"I like to see their faces when they try to read it. It is better than 'who's that god' on t.v." Dionysus said laughing.

**but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half-"**

"Don't say it aloud!" Apollo and Hermes yelped.

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. **

"Noooooo!" Apollo and Hermes cried.

**"That's my, um ... Sum-mer address. "**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy. **

"Leave it to him to think that." Annabeth said.

"Well if you think about it he is right to think that."

**"Okay, " I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "**

"Percy, I didn't mean to make you feel like that." Grover said sadly.

"I am sure he know that." Annabeth said comfortingly.

**He nodded. "Or ... Or if you need me. "**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Perseus! That was harsh!" Annabeth yelled

**It came out harsher than I meant it to. **

"At least he feels bad about it." Annabeth huffed.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you. "**

**I stared at him. **

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

_He lost sleep? Over a satyr? Maybe he is not so bad. _Artemis thought.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me. **

"Wellllll." Grover said scratching the back of his head.

**"Grover, " I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. **

Everyone wrinkled their nose in disgust.

**The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. **

"He cursed? There are children on that bus!" Athna yelled angry at the

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine com-partment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. **

_Why do I feel uneasy? _Poseidon wondered.

**We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing cars. **

Grover gritted his teeth. As did Hermes and most of the other gods.

**On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. **

Grover sucked in a breath. Oh-no.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no cus-tomers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen. **

"Please tell me that is not who I think it is." Poseidon said.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn. **

"It is. Why are they there?" Poseidon asked, his voice becoming frantic.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. **

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. **

"No, no, no, no, no ,no." Poseidon chanted.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. **

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

_Why did he never tell me he met the fates? Does-does that mean that he- h- he-s dead? _Annabeth wondered to herself.

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all." Annabeth said.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "**

The tension was to high for anyone to make a joke.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. **

**"We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "**

"Go! Go Percy please!" Annabeth said, she was about to cry.

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. **

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

"No!" Annabeth said as she sobbed into her hands.

Poseidon got up from his throne and walked out the door.

Everyone was too shocked to speak.

After ten minutes Nico decided to continue reading, he was sure that Poseidon wasn't coming back for a while. _Percy. Is this the reason you are gone? _All of camp half blood asked themselves.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla. **

There was a light chuckle through the throne room, but everyone was too upset to really laugh.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life. **

**The passengers cheered. **

"So did the fates make the bus stop there?" Athena asked.

"It seems like an unlikely coincidence." Artemis said.

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. **

"Oh no." Every said, they were all looking down.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Much, Much worse Perseus." Athena stated in a sad voice, she may be his father's rival but even she didn't think the boy deserved such a horrible fate.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. "**

There was another sob from Annabeth.

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older. **

"Very good." Athena said.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. **

"A very big deal." Grover said.

**"This is not happening, " Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. "**

Thalia closed her eyes and shook her head.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "**

"That is bound to freak him out." Travis said in a low voice.

**"Grover, " I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

"See?"

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "**

"Why do I get the feeling that he is not going to wait?" Annabeth said shaking her head.

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I prom-ised he could. **

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked. **

"Kinda."

**No answer. **

**"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

Annabeth couldn't take it anymore. She ran out of the throne room.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already pick-ing the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin. **

"Thats it." Nico said closing the book.

"Maybe we should take a break…" Apollo said. Everyone agreed.

There was a bright light shining in the middle of the throne room. It was…

**Okay what do you think? Please give me reviews! Twice in one week! Maybe I will just update due to how the stories doing?**


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